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Texas homicide suspect captured in Alexandria

A man wanted on a federal probation violation and also wanted for questioning in a San Antonio-area homicide was found Tuesday (June 12, 2018) at the Home Towne Studios in Alexandria. To take the man into custody, the Alexandria Police Department and other law enforcement evacuated the hotel. He was taken into custody with no injuries to anyone.

Police operation shuts down MacArthur Drive

Daryl Kelly, a suspect wanted in San Antonio, was arrested after a brief standoff at the Home Towne Studios on MacArthur Drive that resulted in the busy roadway being shut down between Jackson and Stimson streets for about two hours.(Photo: Melinda Martinez)

A man wanted for questioning in a San Antonio-area homicide was captured after an operation Tuesday that shut down MacArthur Drive for about two hours.

No one was injured.

U.S. marshals had alerted the Alexandria Police Department earlier Tuesday afternoon that Daryl Travis Kelly, a man also wanted on federal probation violations stemming from firearms and drug charges, was in the Home Towne Studios at 1000 MacArthur Drive.

Daryl Travis Kelly(Photo: Courtesy/Alexandria Police Department)

Complicating matters, Kelly was in the room with a woman and an infant, said Alexandria Chief Jerrod King.

The woman was not wanted, he said.

King alerted tactical commander Lt. Patrick VanDyke so a plan could be formulated. King also spoke with Rapides Sheriff William Earl Hilton, who readied his SWAT personnel.

"That was our first priority, to make sure that the public, those individuals in that hotel, were safe, they were cared for (and) there was no harm to them," said King minutes after Kelly surrendered.

Part of the plan involved shutting down MacArthur Drive from Stimson Street, near Taco Bell, to Jackson Street. Motorists were re-routed onto nearby streets, creating traffic jams as police directed them off the busy U.S. highway.

King said the plan allowed law enforcement to quickly evacuate the four-story hotel. Then they made contact with Kelly, who is from San Antonio.

"We told him who we were, what we wanted. We asked him to surrender. He immediately agreed, came out, surrendered with no incident," said the chief. "Everybody was safe."

Daryl Kelly, a suspect wanted by Federal Marshals from San Antonio, was arrested peacefully after a brief standoff at the Home Towne Studios hotel on MacArthur Drive that resulted in the busy roadway being shut down between Jackson and Stimson Streets fort nearly an hour.
Alexandria Police have re-opened MacArthur Drive. The suspect was wanted on gun and drug charges as well as being a suspect in a homicide investigation.
Alexandria Police Chief Jerrod King said the hotel was safely evacuated and the subject peacefully surrendered after being contacted by police officials.(Photo: Melinda Martinez)

Once Kelly was in custody, MacArthur Drive reopened to traffic.

Kelly was booked into the Rapides Parish Detention Center later Tuesday. He was charged by Alexandria with possession of marijuana and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Kelly was charged in Texas' western district of federal court in March 2015 with a felony count of selling and/or distributing narcotics. He pleaded guilty in June 2016 and was sentenced on April 20, 2017, to 18 months in prison with credit for time served.

He also was sentenced to three years of supervised probation. Court records listed him as a fugitive.

King, who has been chief just shy of two weeks, had praise for the cooperation between departments and for his officers. He mentioned the standoff that happened on May 7 just a block away, saying officers worked as a team to ensure a safe resolution for everyone.

"As a new chief, I couldn't ask for a better resolution to something like this."

The previous incident King spoke about was an almost five-hour standoff at Sherwin-Williams Paint store. In that incident, marshals were seeking Patrick Glenn Murry, an Alexandria resident who also was wanted on a probation violation.

Gunfire allegedly was exchanged, then Murry holed up inside the store. He eventually surrendered and remains in jail.